23 Facts About Gustave Caillebotte

Gustave Caillebotte was born on 19 August 1848 to an upper-class Parisian family living in the rue du Faubourg-Saint-Denis.

Gustave Caillebotte's father, Martial Caillebotte, was the inheritor of the family's military textile business and was a judge at the Tribunal de commerce de la Seine.

Gustave Caillebotte earned a law degree in 1868 and a license to practice law in 1870, and he was an engineer.

Gustave Caillebotte then developed an accomplished style in a relatively short time and had his first studio in his parents' home.

In 1873, Gustave Caillebotte entered the, but apparently did not spend much time there.

Gustave Caillebotte inherited his father's fortune in 1874 and the surviving sons divided the family fortune after their mother's death in 1878.

Around 1874, Gustave Caillebotte had met and befriended several artists working outside the Academie des Beaux-Arts, including Edgar Degas and Giuseppe de Nittis, and attended the First Impressionist Exhibition of 1874.

Gustave Caillebotte made his debut in the second Impressionist exhibition in 1876, showing eight paintings, including Les raboteurs de parquet, his earliest masterpiece.

Gustave Caillebotte painted many domestic and familial scenes, interiors, and portraits.

Gustave Caillebotte often used a soft impressionistic technique reminiscent of Renoir to convey the tranquil nature of the countryside, in sharp contrast to the flatter, smoother strokes of his urban paintings.

Gustave Caillebotte is best known for his paintings of urban Paris, such as The Europe Bridge, and Paris Street; Rainy Day.

Gustave Caillebotte produced some floral still-life paintings, particularly in the 1890s.

In 1881, Gustave Caillebotte acquired a property at Petit-Gennevilliers, on the banks of the Seine near Argenteuil, and he moved there permanently in 1888.

Gustave Caillebotte was a model for Renoir's 1881 painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party.

Gustave Caillebotte's painting career slowed dramatically in the early 1890s when he stopped working on large canvases.

Gustave Caillebotte died of pulmonary congestion while working in his garden at Petit-Gennevilliers in 1894 at age 45.

Gustave Caillebotte was interred at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Gustave Caillebotte's art was largely forgotten until the 1950s when his relatives began to sell the family collection.

Gustave Caillebotte bought his first Monet in 1875 and was especially helpful to that artist's career and financial survival.

Gustave Caillebotte was precise in his sponsorship; notably absent are works by Georges Seurat and Paul Gauguin, or any of the Symbolists.

In 2024, the Musee d'Orsay hosted an exhibition examining how Gustave Caillebotte depicted men in unconventional ways, hinting at his possible homosexuality.

The exhibition's introductory texts highlight how Gustave Caillebotte portrayed men in domestic, often intimate settings typically reserved for women in the 19th century.

Gustave Caillebotte therefore stipulated that they must be displayed in the Luxembourg Palace, and then in the Louvre.